February Unemployment Rate Decreases to 6.9 Percent

Thursday, March 20, 2014 | 08:30am

Jobless rate decreases for sixth consecutive month

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Labor & Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips announced today Tennessee’s preliminary unemployment rate for February is 6.9 percent, which is three tenths of one percentage point lower than the January revised rate. The national unemployment rate for February 2014 was 6.7 percent, up one tenth of one percentage point from January.

Economic Summary:

Over the past year, Tennessee's unemployment rate decreased from 8.2% to 6.9% while the national rate declined from 7.7% to 6.7%.

The number of unemployed persons (209,800) is the lowest since July 2008 and is 8,900 lower than last month.

Total nonfarm employment increased 6,900 jobs from January to February. The largest increases occurred in administrative/support/waste services, trade/transportation/utilities, and government.

Over the year, nonfarm employment increased 37,700 jobs. The largest increases occurred in professional/business services, accommodation/food services, and trade/transportation/utilities.

2014 January and February state and county unemployment rate figures are released later than normal due to annual benchmarking and revisions of the prior year. For a schedule of media release dates, please visit http://www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/news/tfs.shtml.